Production history
Original trilogy
"Original trilogy"
see
George Lucas, the Master and Creator of Star Wars
In 1971, Universal Studios agreed to make American Graffiti and Star Wars in a two-picture contract, although Star Wars was later rejected in its early concept stages. American Graffiti
was completed in 1973 and, a few months later, Lucas wrote a short
summary called "The Journal of the Whills", which told the tale of the
training of apprentice CJ Thorpe as a "Jedi-Bendu" space commando by the
legendary Mace Windy. Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand, Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had thematic parallels with Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress. By 1974, he had expanded the treatment into a rough draft screenplay, adding elements such as the Sith, the Death Star, and a protagonist named Annikin Starkiller.
For the second draft, Lucas made heavy simplifications, and
introduced the young hero on a farm as Luke Starkiller. Annikin became
Luke's father, a wise Jedi knight. "The Force" was also introduced as a mystical energy
field. The next draft removed the father character and replaced him
with a substitute named Ben Kenobi, and in 1976 a fourth draft had been
prepared for principal photography. The film was titled Adventures of Luke Starkiller, as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. During production, Lucas changed Luke's name to Skywalker and altered the title to simply The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.
John Williams, composer of the musical scores for all six films of the original and prequel trilogies.
At that point, Lucas was not expecting the film to become part of a
series. The fourth draft of the script underwent subtle changes that
made it more satisfying as a self-contained film, ending with the
destruction of the Empire itself by way of destroying the Death Star. However, Lucas had
previously conceived of the film as the first in a series of
adventures. Later, he realized the film would not in fact be the first
in the sequence, but a film in the second trilogy in the saga. This is
stated explicitly in George Lucas' preface to the 1994 reissue of Splinter of the Mind's Eye:
It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell—three trilogies—and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to write the middle story.
The second draft contained a teaser for a never-made sequel about
"The Princess of Ondos," and by the time of the third draft some months
later Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him rights to make two
sequels. Not long after, Lucas met with author Alan Dean Foster, and hired him to write these two sequels as novels.The intention was that if Star Wars were successful, Lucas could adapt the novels into screenplays. He had also by that point developed an elaborate backstory to aid his writing process.
When Star Wars proved successful, Lucas decided to use the film as the basis for an elaborate serial, although at one point he considered walking away from the series altogether.However, Lucas wanted to create an independent filmmaking center—what would become Skywalker Ranch—and saw an opportunity to use the series as a financing agent.
Alan Dean Foster had already begun writing the first sequel novel, but
Lucas decided to abandon his plan to adapt Foster's work; the book was
released as Splinter of the Mind's Eye the following year. At first Lucas envisioned a series of films with no set number of entries, like the James Bond series. In an interview with Rolling Stone
in August 1977, he said that he wanted his friends to each take a turn
at directing the films and giving unique interpretations on the series.
He also said that the backstory in which Darth Vader turns to the dark
side, kills Luke's father and fights Ben Kenobi on a volcano as the Galactic Republic falls would make an excellent sequel.
Later that year, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back.
The treatment is similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader
does not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Brackett
would write from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct
Luke.
Brackett finished her first draft in early 1978; Lucas has said he
was disappointed with it, but before he could discuss it with her, she
died of cancer.
With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself. It
was this draft in which Lucas first made use of the "Episode" numbering
for the films; Empire Strikes Back was listed as Episode II. As Michael Kaminski argues in The Secret History of Star Wars, the disappointment with the first draft probably made Lucas consider different directions in which to take the story.
He made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claims to be Luke's
father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as
opposed to the yearlong struggles writing the first film, and quickly
wrote two more drafts,both in April 1978. He also took the script to a darker extreme by having Han Solo imprisoned in carbonite and left in limbo.
This new story point of Darth Vader being Luke's father had drastic
effects on the series. Michael Kaminski argues in his book that it is
unlikely that the plot point had ever seriously been considered or even
conceived of before 1978, and that the first film was clearly operating
under an alternate storyline where Vader was separate from Luke's
father; there is not a single reference to this plot point before 1978. After writing the second and third drafts of Empire Strikes Back
in which the point was introduced, Lucas reviewed the new backstory he
had created: Anakin Skywalker was Ben Kenobi's brilliant student and had
a child named Luke, but was swayed to the dark side by Emperor Palpatine (who became a Sith
and not simply a politician). Anakin battled Ben Kenobi on the site of a
volcano and was wounded, but then resurrected as Darth Vader.
Meanwhile, Kenobi hid Luke on Tatooine while the Republic became the Empire and Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi.
With this new backstory in place, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy, changing Empire Strikes Back from Episode II to Episode V in the next draft.
Lawrence Kasdan, who had just completed writing Raiders of the Lost Ark, was then hired to write the next drafts, and was given additional input from director Irvin Kershner. Kasdan, Kershner, and producer Gary Kurtz
saw the film as a more serious and adult film, which was helped by the
new, darker storyline, and developed the series from the light adventure
roots of the first film.
By the time he began writing Episode VI in 1981 (then titled Revenge of the Jedi), much had changed. Making Empire Strikes Back was stressful and costly, and Lucas' personal life was disintegrating. Burned out and not wanting to make any more Star Wars films, he vowed that he was done with the series in a May 1983 interview with Time magazine.
Lucas' 1981 rough drafts had Darth Vader competing with the Emperor for
possession of Luke—and in the second script, the "revised rough draft",
Vader became a sympathetic character. Lawrence Kasdan was hired to take
over once again and, in these final drafts, Vader was explicitly
redeemed and finally unmasked. This change in character would provide a
springboard to the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline that underlies the
prequels.
Prequel trilogy
After losing much of his fortune in a divorce settlement in 1987, Lucas had no desire to return to Star Wars, and had unofficially canceled his sequel trilogy by the time of Return of the Jedi.
Nevertheless, the prequels, which were only still a series of basic
ideas partially pulled from his original drafts of "The Star Wars"
continued to fascinate him with the possibilities of technical advances
would make it possible to revisit his 20-year-old material. After Star Wars became popular once again, in the wake of Dark Horse's comic book line and Timothy Zahn's trilogy of novels, Lucas saw that there was still a large audience. His children were older, and with the explosion of CGI technology he was now considering returning to directing.By 1993 it was announced, in Variety
among other sources, that he would be making the prequels. He began
penning more to the story, now indicating the series would be a tragic
one examining Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. Lucas also began
to change how the prequels would exist relative to the originals; at
first they were supposed to be a "filling-in" of history tangential to
the originals, but now he saw that they could form the beginning of one
long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his
death. This was the final step towards turning the film series into a
"Saga".
In 1994, Lucas finally had his first screenplay titled Episode I: The Beginning. Following the release of that film, Lucas announced that he would also be directing the next two, and began working on Episode II at that time.
The first draft of Episode II was completed just weeks before principal photography, and Lucas hired Jonathan Hales, a writer from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, to polish it. Unsure of a title, Lucas had jokingly called the film "Jar Jar's Great Adventure."[62] In writing The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas initially decided that Lando Calrissian was a clone and came from a planet of clones which caused the "Clone Wars" mentioned by Princess Leia in A New Hope;
he later came up with an alternate concept of an army of clone
shocktroopers from a remote planet which attacked the Republic and were
repelled by the Jedi.The basic elements of that backstory became the plot basis for Episode II, with the new wrinkle added that Palpatine secretly
Lucas began working on Episode III before Attack of the Clones was released, offering concept artists that the film would open with a montage of seven Clone War battles. As he reviewed the storyline that summer, however, he says he radically re-organized the plot. Michael Kaminski, in The Secret History of Star Wars,
offers evidence that issues in Anakin's fall to the dark side prompted
Lucas to make massive story changes, first revising the opening sequence
to have Palpatine kidnapped and his apprentice, Count Dooku, murdered by Anakin as the first act in the latter's turn towards the dark side.
After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made even more
massive changes in Anakin's character, re-writing his entire turn to the
dark side; he would now turn primarily in a quest to save Padmé's life,
rather than the previous version in which that reason was one of
several, including that he genuinely believed that the Jedi were evil
and plotting to take over the Republic. This fundamental re-write was
accomplished both through editing the principal footage, and new and
revised scenes
Lucas often exaggerated the amount of material he wrote for the
series; much of it stemmed from the post‐1978 period when the series
grew into a phenomenon. Michael Kaminski explained that these
exaggerations were both a publicity and security measure. Kaminski
rationalized that since the series' story radically changed throughout
the years, it was always Lucas' intention to change the original story
retroactively because audiences would only view the material from his
perspective.When congratulating the producers of the TV series Lost in 2010, Lucas himself jokingly admitted, "when Star Wars
first came out, I didn't know where it was going either. The trick is
to pretend you've planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some
father issues and references to other stories – let's call them
homages – and you've got a series".
Sequel trilogy
Main article: Star Wars sequel trilogy
A sequel trilogy was reportedly planned (Episodes VII, VIII and IX) by Lucasfilm as a sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI), released between 1977 and 1983. While the similarly discussed Star Wars prequel trilogy (Episodes I, II and III)
was ultimately released between 1999 and 2005, Lucasfilm and George
Lucas had for many years denied plans for a sequel trilogy, insisting
that Star Wars is meant to be a six-part series. In May 2008, speaking about the upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lucas maintained his status on the sequel trilogy: "I get asked all the time, 'What happens after Return of the Jedi?,' and there really is no answer for that. The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that's where that story ends."
In January 2012, Lucas announced that he would step away from blockbuster films and instead produce smaller arthouse
films. Asked whether the criticism he received following the prequel
trilogy and the alterations to the original trilogy had influenced his
decision to retire, Lucas said: "Why would I make any more when
everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you
are?"
Despite insisting that a sequel trilogy would never happen, George
Lucas began working on story treatments for three new Star Wars films in
2011. In October 2012, The Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Lucasfilm and announced that Star Wars Episode VII
would be released in 2015. Later, it was revealed that the three new
upcoming films (Episodes VII-IX) would be based on story treatments that
had been written by George Lucas prior to the sale of Lucasfilm. The co-chairman of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy became president of the company, reporting to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn. In addition, Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with franchise creator and Lucasfilm founder Lucas serving as creative consultant.The screenplay for Episode VII was originally set to be written by Michael Arndt, but in October 2013 it was announced that writing duties would be taken over by Lawrence Kasdan and J. J. Abrams.[80] On January 25, 2013, The Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm officially announced J. J. Abrams as Star Wars Episode VII 's director and producer, along with
On November 20, 2012, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Lawrence Kasdan, writer of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and Simon Kinberg will write and produce Episodes VIII and IX.
Kasdan and Kinberg were later confirmed as creative consultants on
those films, in addition to writing stand-alone films. In addition, John Williams, who wrote the music for the previous six episodes, has been hired to compose the music for Episodes VII, VIII and IX.
On June 21, 2014 it was reported that Looper director Rian Johnson would direct Episode VIII with Ram Bergman as a producer. Reports initially claimed he would direct Episode IX as well, but it was later revealed he would only write a story treatment for Episode IX. When asked about Episode VIII
in an August 2014 interview, Johnson said "it's boring to talk about,
because the only thing I can really say is, I'm just happy. I don't have
the terror I kind of expected I would, at least not yet. I'm sure I
will at some point." It is scheduled to be released on May 26, 2017. J. J. Abrams will serve as executive producer.
Anthology series
On February 5, 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed the development of two stand-alone films, each individually written by Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. On February 6, Entertainment Weekly reported that Disney is working on two films featuring Han Solo and Boba Fett. Disney CFO Jay Rasulo has described the stand-alone films as origin stories.
Kathleen Kennedy explained that the stand-alone films will not
crossover with the films of the sequel trilogy, stating, "George was so
clear as to how that works. The canon that he created was the Star Wars saga. Right now, Episode VII
falls within that canon. The spin-off movies, or we may come up with
some other way to call those films, they exist within that vast universe
that he created. There is no attempt being made to carry characters
(from the stand-alone films) in and out of the saga episodes.
Consequently, from the creative standpoint, it's a roadmap that George
made pretty clear." In April 2015, Lucasfilm and Kathleen Kennedy announced that the stand-alone films will be referred to as the
- Rogue One
In May 2014, Lucasfilm announced that Gareth Edwards will direct the first anthology film, to be released on December 16, 2016, with Gary Whitta writing the first draft.On March 12, 2015, the film's title was revealed to be Rogue One with Chris Weitz rewriting the script, with Felicity Jones, Ben Mendelsohn and Diego Luna starring. On April 19, 2015, a teaser trailer was shown exclusively during the closing of the Star Wars Celebration.
Lucasfilm also announced that filming would begin in the summer of
2015. The plot will revolve around a group of rebels on a mission to
steal the Death Star
plans; director Edwards stated, "It comes down to a group of
individuals who don't have magical powers that have to somehow bring
hope to the galaxy." Additionally, Kathleen Kennedy and Kiri Hart
confirmed that the stand-alone films will be labeled as "anthology
films". Edwards stated that the style of the film will be similar to
that of a war film, stating, "It's the reality of war. Good guys are
bad. Bad guys are good. It's complicated, layered; a very rich scenario
in which to set a movie."
- Second anthology film
In June 2014, Chronicle director Josh Trank was announced as the director of the second anthology feature.On May 1, 2015, Lucasfilm and Trank jointly announced that Trank was no longer directing the film. On May 4, 2015, it was confirmed that the film would surround the origins of Boba Fett, a bounty hunter in the original trilogy.
3D releases
At a ShoWest convention in 2005, Lucas demonstrated new technology and stated that he planned to release the six films in a new 3D film format, beginning with A New Hope in 2007. However, by January 2007, Lucasfilm stated on StarWars.com that "there are no definitive plans or dates for releasing the Star Wars saga in 3-D." At Celebration Europe in July 2007, Rick McCallum
confirmed that Lucasfilm is "planning to take all six films and turn
them into 3-D," but they are "waiting for the companies out there that
are developing this technology to bring it down to a cost level that
makes it worthwhile for everybody".In July 2008, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation, revealed that Lucas plans to redo all six of the movies in 3D.
In late September 2010, it was announced that The Phantom Menace would be theatrically re-released in 3-D on February 10, 2012.
The plan was to re-release all six films in order, with the 3-D
conversion process taking up to a year to complete for each film.However, the 3D re-releases of episodes II and III have been postponed to enable Lucasfilm to concentrate on Episode VII.
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